Pinakothek (10): The Grasshopper and the Ant

By: Lucy Sante

Like the ant, the teenage stoner labors ceaselessly and uncomplaining, pursuing an arduous task that casual onlookers would dismiss as pointless, yet which is essential to the little creature’s survival. Like the ant, the stoner […]

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Pinakothek (9): Basquiat

By: Lucy Sante

The first time I met Jean-Michel Basquiat was in November or December 1978, at the Mudd Club. His hair was dyed orange and cut very short with a v-shaped widow’s peak in the front. He […]

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Pinakothek (8): The Appeal to Reason

By: Lucy Sante

What caused me to pick this item out of the trash heap was not its title — there are better editions of DeQuincey’s book out there (if none so pocket-sized) — but its publisher. Appeal […]

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Pinakothek (7): Turf

By: Lucy Sante

This was the view out my back window in New York City for more than ten years. That time (1979-1990) was the heyday of Wild Style, when graffiti truly became an artform, as is documented […]

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Pinakothek (6): Vile Smut

By: Lucy Sante

Reminiscing about my early days in the used-paper trade, I find that I can become tender if not actually moist-eyed at the thought of the publications that were both produced and purchased by the raincoat […]

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Pinakothek (5) — Hooliganism

By: Lucy Sante

Just about as rare as if it had never been published at all, this may be the only extant copy of Dave Carluccio’s only book — typed, photocopied, folded, and stapled by its author in 1980 […]

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Pinakothek (4) — Case Study

By: Lucy Sante

THE SUBJECT, a recent immigrant approximately nine years of age, was asked to depict his mother. It was specified that he should present her in a particular context of his choosing: a setting or activity. […]

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Pinakothek (3) — Skins

By: Lucy Sante

ASIDE FROM BRANDY and cigars, no product on the market is packaged quite as traditionally as cigarette papers. Nearly every item on your grocer’s shelf gets an image update every few years to make sure […]

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Pinakothek (2) — Who Owns New York?

By: Lucy Sante

THAT IS THE APT TITLE of the Columbia University fight song. It’s odd that I remember it, because I can’t have heard it more than once or twice — my time there was the absolute […]

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Pinakothek (1) — Détournement

By: Lucy Sante

ONE DAY VERY SOON it will happen that our heroes, having searched and studied ancient property maps on file at the bureau of records, having rented a basement storage space on the opposite side of […]

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